Action Research Progress

My action research project is examining the effectiveness of interventions for our special education students specifically in writing and science. I have gone through a list of our special education and have designated 15 students that will be my test group. I have data on their State Mandated test scores from last year. So far we have set up a number of interventions that will take place during the year in order to get them ready for the state mandated test that will take place in May. The first intervention we are offering is that we put all of these students in one class period and team teaching is taking place between the teacher and their special education case manager. We also have some programs taking place for these students like Read 180 and I-Station for the writing and Sapling Learning for the science. The students are working on these programs about two to three times a week. I am going to be able to assess the student’s progress by looking at the benchmark scores that they will be taking twice throughout the year. We have also started a new 3-week common assessment program that will also help me track the progress of these students. In English specifically, these students are not only taking their required ELA course but they are also taking a Practical Writing class. The class will be used as intervention for these students also. In Science, we have put the students into a STAAR Biology Intervention class along with their regular science class. These are the interventions that are currently taking place. We have other interventions that we are implementing throughout the year like Saturday School tutorials, Collaborative Wednesday tutorials, and a 20 days to the STAAR program. I will be visiting with the students and teachers throughout this year to see which interventions they think are working and which ones are showing results. I will also be monitoring the students benchmark scores, common assessment scores, and state mandated test scores.

School/Community Partnership Program

Technology Advancement Partnership -  GO view my Presentation!

PREZI http://prezi.com/lef_uaqr6dqu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Thoughts....

Currently my school has me participating in a Leadership Cohort.  In the cohort, we are discussing many of the same topics from this course.  We had to come up with a problem at our specific campus and we are discussing as a group how we can fix or minimize the problem.  It is very similar to the action research project so I have been able to apply many of things learned in this class.  Both the cohort and this class stressed the importance of assessing the quality of my work.  Strategies and data collection must be relevant and accurate.  In both cases I have learned that not all research will prove to be beneficial and it might require a refocusing of the strategy.

Once again action research is a wide ranging topic that can be very beneficial if practiced and carried out in a passionate and constructive manner.  Through this course I have learned many of the aspects and the possible outcomes to using action research.  As a future leader I find this is very important to use to the benefit of all involved.

Week 4 Action Research Review with Site Supervisor

I met with my site supervisor and the head of special education about my action research project.  All three of us worked together to construct my plan and hopefully I will not have any major changes.  We discussed some of the interventions we are starting day one of school.  We talked about how I could evaluate the effectiveness of those interventions.  We also talked about the interventions that we will be implementing throughout the year and how we could evaluate them.  My site supervisor gave me a list of schools that are most like our school (size, ethnicity, socio-economic, etc.) to contact and get information from them on their intervention strategies. The head of special education and I looked at the list of special education students and decided it would be best to target the group as a whole and not divide it up.  We have our target students and I am now ready to start evaluating their benchmark scores and past STAAR results.  My site supervisor feels this research will benefit our school in all subject areas and will allow us to better serve our special education population in the future.  We discussed how just this week the state sent out the change in laws and it proposed that the STAAR-Modified tests are going away and all students will be taking the regular test.   With this new proposed mandate, we feel my research will be that much more important for our school and students to be successful.

Week 3 Action Research Planning

Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template
Goal: To determine the value and effectiveness of Intervention established to promote growth in Writing among all STAAR-M (special education) ELA students.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Research Benchmark scores for students taking the STAAR-M in all subject areas.	Tanner Lange Dwight Mchazlett Various teachers	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	Benchmark test results in all subject areas for the STAAR-M students.	Analyze achievement and areasof weaknesses across all subject areas.  Determine if there is a trend among all students.
2. Determine the interventions put in place by the district and by the high school campus.	Tanner Lange Dwight Mchazlett Michael Nesbit	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	Funding, Staffing, Curriculum A list of interventions put into place.	Observe the classrooms with the interventions taking place.  Observe interventions taking place amongst these special education students.
3. Determine the interventions that the teachers are going to do on their own for intervention.	Tanner Lange Various Teachers	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	A list of interventions the teachers plan on using.  The lesson plans from these teachers and specific lessons taught.	Observe classrooms with the interventions taking place.
4.  Survey teachers and students to determine which interventions they believed to be most effective. Have them list the pros and cons of each interventions.	Tanner Lange Dwight McHazlett Various Teachers Various Students	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	Student and teacher surveys	Survey and question teachers and students about the pros and cons of each intervention.
5. Identify accomodations and modications for these special education students and determine how they can be integrated into the interventions.	Tanner Lange SpecialEducation Case Managers Dwight McHazlett	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	IEP’s for these students.  Visit with Case Managers for each student to determine possible accomodations.	Identify the most commonly used accomodation and make sure all interventions include these to meet the needs of these students.
6. Track these students writing progress from their 4th to 7th to high school.	Tanner Lange Dwight McHazlett Counselors	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	Test results for 4th and 7th grade years in writing.	Determine where growth or difficulties have occurred for these students.
7.  Research current literature on the different interventions for special education students and their effectiveness.	Tanner Lange	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	Current literature and various websites.	Read and evaluate the literature on the different interventions and effectiveness.
8. Research other schools interventions and curriculums for writing across the curriculum at the high school level.	Tanner Lange Other schools	8-1-2013 thru 6-5-2014	List of interventions and test results.	Evaluate the scores of each school to determine the effectiveness of their interventions.

In the Week 2 Assignment - Background and Real Life Action Research Examples, I learned their are many topics that can be researched and it needs to be appropriate for all involved.  I learned that the topic being researched needs to be related somehow to the researcher so they can take ownership in it.  It is more likely that the research will be implemented if it is important to them.  I also learned that reflection is important skill for leaders and even all educators.  It is very important for everybody to reflect on their past year or years to see if they could have done something different to produce more success.  

How leaders might use blogs?

Educational leaders could use blogs in a variety of ways in order to keep the campus informed of changes, events, and progress.  A superintendent could create a district blog accessible to all staff discussing district issues or changes, emergency information, school board minutes, and important dates.  A principal could use a blog to eliminate the number of emails sent or faculty meetings held.  They could post to a blog critical information daily as well as informing teachers of campus issues and important events.